The Ultimate Question
by Sir Alwick
Summary: Is she really going out with him?


From the moment Robin entered the common room it was clear that something was troubling him. Sure his posture was relaxed and his expression was placid and his general demeanor had all the indications of a man at peace, but then that was the thing about Robin: he almost **_never_** appeared relaxed, placid or at peace. Not to say that he perpetually wore the face of a man whose entire existence was about to go tumbling uncontrollably into a dark and inescapable void, but whenever he ventured outside his private living quarters he always tended to bring whatever he was working on with him. In the tower he did not loiter or waste time. When he walked he did so with purpose. His stride was quick and confident and perhaps most importantly his hands were seldom ever idle. He would always fill his green-gloved grasp with a tablet, schematic, active case file or newspaper...something informative or interactive...something that kept him abridged or updated...that would sharpen either his mind or his senses. At the very least, the barest minimum, he would carry with him a hand strengthener with which improve his grip. If all of these things were absent...if his gait was meandering and his hands were stuffed in his pockets it meant only one thing: something was wrong.

To put things bluntly: Robin only appeared at peace when he was anything but.

Of course no one knew this better than Raven. Ever the perceptive one, she could read any one of her teammates as well as she could read a two thousand page tome on the culture and practices of 12th century necromancers. So that particular afternoon when Robin appeared in the common room, aimlessly strolling about the kitchen area, nonchalantly inspecting the refrigerator and casually gliding by the massive floor-to-ceiling windows at the front of the room, she knew almost immediately that her peace was about to be ruined. The moment she saw the masked eighteen-year-old carelessly turn, fold his hands behind his back and begin heading towards where she sat quietly reading on the sofa, her response was to immediately bury her nose in her book and do her best to ignore him, hoping against hope that he might make his way back out the same way he came in, take whatever was on his mind to someone perhaps a bit more qualified to handle such things. Starfire came to mind but she wasn't picky. If Robin wished to hop into the T-Sub and go pour his heart out to Aqualad, she certainly wasn't going to complain. Unfortunately no such luck befell her.

'Oh boy,' she thought to herself as the Titans' fearless leader relaxedly took a seat beside her and absentmindedly placed his hands on his knees. ''Here we go.'

Robin sat quietly for a moment or two, played with his fingers for a beat and then...

"I can't take it anymore. I have to know."

Sometimes Raven really hated being right.

"What's wrong, Robin?" she asked, doing her damndest to stifle the sigh in her throat.

"I need to know."

"You need to know what?"

"Why?"

Raven said a quick silent prayer for strength and then answered, "Why what?"

"You and Beast Boy," declared Robin firmly. "Why?"

The Boy Wonder was of course referring to the fact that, as of three weeks ago, it had become public knowledge in Titans Tower that Raven and Beast Boy had in fact become an 'item' and were seeing each other exclusively. It all came to light after Cyborg entered the common room one day and found the two of them sitting at the table looking just a bit too...**_cozy_**. Questions led to more questions which in turn led to even more questions and, after several lame attempts at subterfuge on Beast Boy's part, at long last the two decided it was just time to come clean. "Fine," Raven was noted as saying, "I love the little green idiot." They had started seeing each other romantically about four months prior and while they never really intended to keep their relationship a secret they didn't exactly feel like flaunting it either. When asked why neither of them had said anything to anyone, Raven stated simply that they didn't feel they had to. It wasn't anyone's business. There was some confusion at first but disbelief quickly turned into congratulations and the two were left to carry on as usual. Everyone was satisfied.

Everyone that is except for Robin apparently.

"I've been trying to wrap my head around it," the masked teen said plainly. "But I just don't get it."

"What's there to get?" asked Raven, not understanding Robin's question.

Robin sighed. He ran his fingers through his hair and leaned forward in his seat. "Look," he said finally. "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but I just have to know: why are you two together?"

"Why?"

"As in romantically. As in dating. As in boyfriend and girlfriend. I mean you two have nothing, I repeat absolutely NOTHING, in common."

"Well, I wouldn't say-"

"He likes comic books; you like meditation."

"Yes, but-"

"He likes video games; you like poetry."

"I know, but-"

"He likes monster movies; you like Pretty Pretty Pegasus."

"How did you-?"

"He likes mopeds; you like-"

"I GET IT!"

The room echoed as Raven's voice came erupting out of her in the form of a deep and menacing demonic growl. Her outburst was enough to shake Robin from his ranting, but not enough derail his pursuit completely. Realizing he may have been pushing his teammate a bit too hard, he sat back in his seat and did his best to appear passive.

"Listen," he said once he was certain his blue cloaked companion was calmer. "I don't want to be rude-"

"Oh why stop now?"

"But it's just that...I couldn't help but notice that everyday you two come into the common room, have breakfast...and then just...go your separate ways. Beast Boy hangs out with Cyborg; you visit with Starfire or you find some place isolated to read or meditate. Except for the odd dinner date here and there, you two never actually seem to...DO anything together. So then the only question I have is...why? What changed that after all the years of you two at each others throats you're now suddenly..." He made a non-specific gesture with his hands. "...like this?"

Sensing that Robin had finished his piece, Raven, looking somewhat secretive, closed her book and set it down beside her. Elevating her position and craning her neck slightly, she looked over her shoulder and scanned her eyes across the width of the common room, seemingly checking to see if anyone was in ear shot. Turning the other way she looked to the door, but it appeared as if the two of them were in fact completely alone. Turning back to Robin she flexed her index finger towards him, making a 'come here' gesture. Robin, understanding that she wanted him to move in closer, did just that. Leaning forward on the cushion he turned his head, granting Raven his ear. Raven gave one last tentative look around the common room, then she too leaned in, bringing her lips closer and closer to his waiting ear until finally...

"Ow, ow, ow, owwww!"

Sharp pain shot through Robin's auditory appendage as Raven swiftly seized hold of it, pinching the sensitive cartilage between her thumb and index finger and giving it a good yank as she very sharply declared, "None of your business!"

Free of Raven's kung fu grip, Robin shot back into his seat like a rubber band. "Come on, Raven," he pleaded, gingerly rubbing his still throbbing earlobe. "Have mercy. I was raised since I was ten years old to be a detective, to find the answers to impossible questions. I'm not used to puzzles I can't piece together. I just want to understand. That's all."

It was a side of Robin that Raven was not used to seeing: lost, confused and asking for help. He may have been acting ridiculous, but she supposed it would have been cruel to turn him away when she could have just as easily provided him an explanation, and so, rolling her eyes, she let out a long, relenting sigh.

"Fine," she said finally. "You want to know what it is that makes Garfield special to me; what I get from him that I don't get from anyone else? You want to know, if we have no shared interests, what it is we do together?"

"Yes, exactly. Please, I have to know."

Closing her eyes, Raven took a deep, calming breath.

"You really want to know?" she asked.

"Yes."

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"...Positive?"

"Yes, yes, please tell me."

Raven arched her eyebrows and made a face that seemed to say, 'you asked for it.'

"Alright," she said. "At the end of the day, when the rest of you have all gone to bed, Garfield comes to my room and we..."

Raven trailed off and Robin's head just about hit the ceiling.

"What, what, what do you do?" he practically shouted.

Squaring her shoulders, Raven took breath, the awesome weight of her confession evidently causing her words to become stuck in her throat. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came forth. Finally, at long last and without any further hesitation, she found her voice and let loose with her great and terrible secret.

"We talk," she said plainly, all traces of fear and trepidation disappearing from her face in an instant.

For a long time Robin said nothing, just sat there on the sofa with his rigid posture and his mouth agape, staring wide eyed through his mask at the girl beside him. He expected her to continue, to elaborate, to reveal some shocking or hitherto unknown truth about the nature of her's and Beast Boy's relationship, but after several seconds of dead silence it became readily apparent that yes, she was in fact finished with her answer. Pandora's box had been thrown open and all that was inside was a picture of a butt and a sad trombone.

"Talk?" said Robin after a few moments.

Raven nodded.

Robin made an attempt to speak, but when no words came out he was left to put a hand to his chin, think for a moment and then try again.

"You guys just...talk," he said, once his words finally returned to him.

"Yep."

It was safe to say this was not at all how Robin expected this conversation to go. The pure simplicity of Raven's answer had caused an almost catastrophic loss of brain function in the boy wonder's normally superb mind. However, despite the momentary failure of his synapses, he would not be deterred. There was no sense in turning back now. Like a steadfast mountain climber halfway up he would persevere and press ever onward up the perilous and icy slopes of Mount Raven.

"Okay," he said, raising his hands as if trying to literally grab hold of the conversation and put it in its proper place. "You guys talk...talk about what exactly?"

"Anything," answered Raven. "Everything. Important stuff. Boring stuff. He shares what's on his mind and I do the same. Sometimes the two of us will stay up for hours, just talking about...whatever."

Robin scratched the back of his head in confusion. No matter how hard he tried, the circle would just not square.

"There has to be more to it than that," he said.

Raven's face became somewhat somber as she looked down at her hands, folding them neatly in her lap.

"I guess I understand your confusion," she said after a beat. "I mean at first glance we don't exactly look like the ideal couple, but the companionship I get from Garfield is something I've been searching for my whole life."

"What do you mean?

"Well, I'm sure you already know that conversation has never been one of my strong suits. Sure, I've gotten better at it over the years, but finding the strength to put my thoughts and feelings into words is something I still struggle with even to this day. But...I don't know...with Garfield it's different somehow. It's just easier. When I'm with him, opening up feels as natural as breathing. I can tell him anything. He never makes me feel awkward or embarrassed, and he listens to me. Really listens. When we're together it's like we're the only two people in the world. I'm free...completely free...to be myself. Just...me. It's a feeling that no one else has ever been able to give me, and...I guess I love him for that. Does that make sense?"

For a moment Robin was silent, then he smiled. "Yeah," he said, leaning back in his seat and relaxing his posture. "That actually makes a lot of sense." He was just about ready to leave when...

"You know, Robin," said Raven suddenly. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the feeling it wasn't just curiosity that brought you here today."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, not that I'm looking to be the tower's new 'couples therapist' or anything, but it seems to me that maybe you were hoping to get some advice out of all this...perhaps because things between you and Starfire aren't going as well as they could be?"

Robin was ready to repudiate Raven's claim; however he quickly realized that whatever words he could have conjured in that moment would have amounted to nothing more than wasted breath.

"It's...not that things are going bad," he answered finally. "But...I guess they could be going better."

"Maybe I'm not the one you should be talking to."

Robin chuckled as another smile found it's way to his cheeks.

"I guess you're right," he relented.

"I know."

He chuckled again.

"Thanks Raven."

Raven retrieved her book from the cushion and calmly brought it back up to its rightful place at the end of her nose.

"You're welcome," she said, her voice carrying effortlessly over the fluttering sound of the book's pages. "Now fly away, little Robin. Fly, fly, fly."

xxxxxx

With delicate fingers, Raven set the device neatly at the very bottom of the locker, right on top of a pile of creased car owner's manuals and just below the dangling fringes of a light grey Jump City High sweatshirt. Running a chord from the base of the device she connected it to a plam sized touch screen. With a few button taps the motion sensor was activated and with great care that the trap not spring prematurely, she shut the door with all the care and precision of a brain surgeon. She was in the final stages of rearming the security lock when she sensed a familiar pressence at her back.

"Hey, babe," said Beast Boy, suddenly spying her through the open doorway. "What'cha up to?"

"Eh, nothing much," Raven answered. "Just putting a stink bomb in Cyborg's locker."

Raven's answer was nothing sort of eyebrow raising for the green changling. "Oookaaay," he replied, his curiousity shooting up like a rocket. "Not that I'm against it or anything but...whyyyyy?"

"I was talking to Robin today and somehow he knew about my liking Pretty, Pretty Pegasus. Cyborg was the only one who could have given him that information, therefor he must be punished."

Satisfied with his girlfriend's answer, Beast Boy shrugged his shoulders. "Works for me," he said. His ears then twitched as a new thought entered his mind. "Say...er...Robin didn't happen to know anything about _**me**_ liking Pretty, Pretty Pegasus, did he?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "No, He-Man," she said with a slight smirk. "You're in the clear."

"Whew! That's good."

Raven gave the locker one more going over to make sure nothing about it seemed unusual or out of place. Once satisfied, she went to where Beast Boy stood and greeted him with a quick kiss on the lips.

"Good to see you," she said.

"Right back at you," he answered. He then threw one more glance at the locker. "You **_do_** know Cy is most likely just going to think it was me who did this, right?"

"Oh, I'm counting on it," replied Raven matter-of-factually.

Beast Boy laughed.

"You're an evil woman, Rae," he said.

"You love it."

Beast Boy sighed, "I do, don't I?"

Raven kissed him once more and then quickly linked her arm with his. "Yeah, you do," she said, "buuuut I do feel a little guilty, so how about I treat you to an ice cream cone to make up for it?"

At the word ice cream, Beast Boy's long pointy ears immediately twitched and reoriented on his head. "Deal," he replied quickly and the two made their way out of the lockerroom and into the hall. They were just about at the elevator when Beast Boy asked, "So what were you talking to Robin about?"

Raven hugged his arm as a small smile formed on her lips.

"Oh, wait till you hear this."

**End**


End file.
